Sky: Children of the Light

Role PlayingGoogle PlayApp Store

7.2~~/10~~

Our score

★ 4.8·10M+ installs

Reviewed by Editorial Team, ScoredApps editorial · updated 2026-09-21

Screenshots

A figure in a dark coat gazing up at a swirling Starry Night sky

A sky child running through a sepia pencil-sketch crowd from Van Gogh's early drawings

A sky child and a bearded painter beside a flower field under a pale sky

A hooded sky child at the café terrace at night with tables under a yellow awning

Van Gogh's Arles bedroom in painted 3D with the yellow bed and blue walls

A man at a desk with sunflowers reading a letter as the sun sets

About Sky: Children of the Light

Sky: Children of the Light is thatgamecompany's social flying game — the Journey studio's seven realms of light, explored with strangers you befriend by holding hands and lighting candles — free on iOS and Android since 2019, with seasons of story and cosmetics paid for in candles and a $9.99 Season Pass. The current chapter, Dear Van Gogh, walks through the painter's canvases. It holds a 4.8 on the App Store; the 4.5 on Google Play carries the complaints — a candle grind with no rest, 90-heart capes, unskippable cutscenes, phones that overheat.

Game information

Developerthatgamecompany

Version0.34.5 (410941) (Android) · 0.34.5 (iOS)

Size2.70GB (Android) · 3.0 GB (iOS)

Price / In-appFree

Contains adsNo

In-app purchasesYes

Content rating13+

Requires (Android)Android 8.0+

Requires (iOS)iOS 15.0+

Offline modeNo — shared online realms

Interface languagesEN, FR, DE, ID, IT, JA + 8 more

Store rating4.8 from 266,796 ratings

Installs10M+

Updated by developer2026-08-25

Data checked2026-09-21

Specs come from the official store listings and were last checked on 2026-09-21. Developers change pricing and requirements — check the store page before installing.

Sky: Children of the Light Review: The Kindest Game on Phones, Run on Candles

Seven Realms, No Text Chat, and a Season Inside Van Gogh's Paintings

The design is Journey scaled to a live game. You are a child of light gliding through seven realms — from Daylight Prairie to the storm-wracked Eden — collecting winged light to fly higher and freeing spirits whose emotes and cosmetics you earn back with candles. Other players appear as grey silhouettes until you hold a candle to them; friendship unlocks names, gestures and eventually chat, so the community is built on gifts and hand-holding rather than typing. Seasons add a chapter every few months: the August 2026 one, Dear Van Gogh, turns Starry Night, the Arles bedroom, the café terrace and the sunflower fields into playable spaces, guided by Johanna, Theo's widow, through the brothers' letters. The most-voted Play review, a February 2025 five-star with 3,150 votes, loves the controls, the graphics, the story, the music and even the grind, three years in.

The Grind, the Cutscenes and the Heat: What the 4.5 Is Made Of

The same 3,150-vote review's one demand is to lower heart prices — 90 hearts for a cape, with hearts only earnable through gifts. An April 2025 two-star with 783 votes says returning after time away found nothing changed: cosmetics behind paywalls, candle prices ridiculous, hours of grinding, bugs unbearable, and no rest between events to save up, which burns players out. An April 2025 four-star with 1,764 votes prefers the simpler early seasons to the big ones that send you back and forth between realms, says 90 percent of cutscenes are unskippable even on repeat, and is constantly fighting the controls. September 2026 reviews add server errors during candle challenges, long loading, an in-app purchase failure one player says has lasted a year, and a request to bring the old Sky back because the new update is too hard. The top review's aside — graphics so stunning the phone overheats — recurs.

Candles From $4.99 to $49.99, a $9.99 Season Pass, 3 GB on iOS 15

There are no ads. The App Store's top items are Regular Candles at $4.99, $9.99, $19.99 and $49.99, Season Candles at $4.99, the Season Pass at $9.99 and a Season Pass Pack at $19.99, plus cosmetics from $2.99 to $14.99; Google Play's range is $0.99 to $49.99. Everything is cosmetic and social — there is no combat to buy power for — but the seasons are timed, which is the pressure the burnout reviews describe. Data collection is broad for a game this gentle: Google's card lists personal and financial info plus four other types collected, with messages, app info and device IDs shared; Apple lists purchases and identifiers not linked to you. The iOS build is 3.04 GB on iOS 15 or later, with iPad and Apple Silicon Macs; Google does not publish an Android floor. Fourteen languages. Ten million-plus installs on Play with 1.11 million reviews. Prices are regional.

Pros

Friendship by candlelight — no text chat until you have earned it
Seven realms of flight and light that reviewers call stunning six years on
Seasons with real authorship — Dear Van Gogh walks through the paintings and the letters
No ads and nothing to buy but cosmetics and candles
A community the most-voted reviews describe as the most welcoming anywhere

Cons

Candle and heart grind with no rest between timed events, per the 783-vote review
90 hearts for a cape; cosmetics that reviewers call ridiculously priced
Most cutscenes unskippable even on repeat, and seasons that shuttle you between realms
Phones overheat, servers error during challenges, and one player's purchases have failed for a year

Download From Google PlayDownload From App Store

We don't host any files. These buttons open the official Google Play and App Store listings.

Verdict

A 7.2: the gentlest multiplayer game on a phone — friendship by candlelight in realms that still look extraordinary — attached to a candle economy that its most loyal players call a grind and a cosmetic shop they call overpriced. Take it if you want a game about meeting people rather than beating them, and can ignore the timers. Skip it if unskippable cutscenes, daily candle runs or a phone running hot would spoil it, or if you want something to win.

Gameplay8Exploration, flight and spirit puzzles built around meeting strangers; the seasons repeat the loop.

Controls7Intuitive to the top review, a constant fight to the 1,764-vote one — flight in tight spaces is where they differ.

Replay value8A new season every few months and a friend list that keeps you returning; the timers make it a chore for some.

Graphics & sound9Light, cloth and weather on a phone that overheats trying; a score played live in concerts.

Monetisation5Cosmetic only and ad-free, but candles to $49.99, timed seasons and heart prices the top review begs to lower.

7.2out of 10 · weighted average of the five scores above

Frequently asked questions

Can you play Sky: Children of the Light offline?

No. Every realm is shared with other players, friendships, gifts and candle challenges run on thatgamecompany's servers, and September 2026 reviews report server errors mid-challenge. There is no offline mode. Plan on Wi-Fi for the 3 GB install and a stable connection for sessions.

Is Sky: Children of the Light pay to win?

There is nothing to win — no combat, no ranks. Money buys candles ($4.99 to $49.99), the $9.99 Season Pass and cosmetics ($2.99 to $19.99), and the reviews' complaint is that cosmetics are expensive and the free candle grind is long with no break between timed seasons. A 2021 reviewer's advice: buy nothing until you have finished the story. Prices vary by region.

What phone do you need for Sky: Children of the Light?

iOS 15 or newer with 3.04 GB free, or an Android phone — Google does not list a floor. The reviews say the graphics push hardware: the most-voted one reports overheating, and September 2026 reviews cite long loading. A phone from the last few years is the realistic minimum; the game also runs on iPad and Apple Silicon Macs.

Can you play Sky: Children of the Light with friends?

Yes — it is the point. You meet strangers as silhouettes, befriend them with a candle, and unlock holding hands, gestures and chat; friends can be invited by code and fly together through every realm and season. Cross-play covers iOS, Android, Switch, PlayStation and PC on the same servers.

How long does Sky: Children of the Light take?

The story through Eden is roughly 10 to 15 hours; the rest is open-ended — a season every few months, daily candle runs of 30 to 60 minutes for anyone chasing cosmetics, and a friend list that keeps players returning for years. The burnout reviews come from treating the daily candle run as mandatory; it is not.